Family At Long Last
Author: Nitrowugs
Rating: PG
Pairings: B/A and D/C eventually, mention of F/Wes
Feedback: Please. Constructive criticism is always welcomed and appreciated.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything associated with BtVS and AtS. Characters, plots, and dialogue from the shows are borrowed with no infringement intent whatsoever.
Distribution: Please ask and let me know where it's going.
Written: 08/07/2015
Summary: When Buffy left the Hyperion Hotel after her confrontation with Angel, she decided that she had been hurt enough; she couldn't take any more. She never wanted to see Angel again. Someone should have told her that you never plan your life so far ahead because sometimes Fate throws a heck of a curve ball.
A/N1: BtVS happened up through 'Who Are You' in season 4. AtS happened up through the B/A confrontation in 'Sanctuary' in season 1. Things go AU after this.
Part 1
It was late afternoon on a hot summer's day when Buffy heard the doorbell ring. She asked Dawn to see who it was before they woke up the baby. She had been baby-sitting for her sister, so that she could have a spa day with her girlfriends and Dawn had just returned. 'Whoever it is, I hope they don't wake the baby,' Dawn thought; 'Buffy just got him to fall asleep.' The words died on her lips, so to speak. Standing at the door was the last person Dawn expected to see.
"Angel."
"Hello, Dawn. Is Buffy home?"
Dawn didn't answer; she just stepped back and allowed him to enter.
After a few moments Buffy walked into the living room and asked, "Dawn, who was at the door?"
Before she could reply, Angel spoke up.
"Hello, Buffy. It's good to see you."
"What're you doing here?" Her voice was soft and even and in no way did her face betray the turmoil she was feeling inside. She hadn't seen Angel in nearly fifteen years - not since he had demanded that she leave LA and not come back. Memories assaulted her mind as clear as if the events had happened yesterday.
Begin Flashback
She had gone to LA to stop Faith from killing him after the body swap had been reversed and Faith had sworn to kill him to get back at Buffy. Unfortunately things had not gone as expected in LA and a confrontation between herself and Angel erupted. They exchanged blows and he punched her in the face so hard that he split her lip and demanded that she go home and not return.
Carefully controlling the emotions that threatened to overwhelm her, she fought back the tears as she dug her nails into her palms in an effort to draw her attention to something other than the true source of her pain, a source that was standing in front of her in the form of the man that she loved.
She looked directly into his eyes.
"I'll never forget. I promised you that nearly six months ago. I kept my promise; I didn't forget."
Angel's face reflected his shock at hearing her words, but before he could say anything, Buffy ran her left thumb across the corner of her lower lip, collecting the blood caused by the blow from Angel's fist; she took one step closer to him, reached up and ran her thumb across his lips forcing her blood into his mouth.
"Taste me, Angel, and remember because I promise you, I will never, ever, forget this."
She turned and walked out of the building, got into her car and headed back to Sunnydale. She vowed then that she never wanted to see Angel again, that he had hurt her for the last time.
A few years later Buffy heard about it on the news the next morning after it was all over. She heard about the devastation in Los Angeles and she knew that Angel was involved in it. No battle of such proportions as the news media described could have taken place in LA without Angel having a part in it. What surprised her even more than the news of the battle itself was the fact that there had been only one set of human remains recovered. What had happened to Angel's team? Cordelia, Wesley, Gunn and the others? Were they not involved in the fight? Did they survive?
She called Giles who had already tried unsuccessfully to contact Wesley.
A few months later Connor showed up at her door in Rome. He seemed to be as lost as she felt and when he identified himself, she invited him in. Over lunch, Connor opened up and told her about his life on Quor-Toth and how he came to hate the vampire that he learned was his father. He told her about trapping Angel in a metal prison and sinking it to the bottom of the ocean and about Angel's kicking him out of the hotel after he was rescued by Wesley. By the time he came to his senses and realized how wrong he had been, it was too late to make amends. The part of Los Angeles around the Hyperion Hotel was a disaster zone and he could not find Angel or any of the Angel Investigations team. He had learned about Angel's past relationship with Buffy from Gunn and Fred during the summer that he had Angel locked away and he felt for sure that if Angel was still alive, he would have contacted Buffy. That is why he felt he needed to be with her, because she was the only one he knew of that might still be alive who loved his father.
Buffy briefly told him about her relationship with Angel, about being the slayer and about life in general in Sunnydale; she also explained to him how she and Dawn ended up in Rome.
After getting to know Connor, Buffy invited him to live with her and her sister; he gladly accepted. When she asked him how and where he had been living since Angel told him to leave the hotel, he explained that one evening when everyone was away from the Hyperion, he sneaked back in and took some of the money that he had found over the summer. He used it to rent a room in the home of an elderly woman until it ran out; after that she let him stay in exchange for chores around the house until he found a job washing dishes at a local cafeteria. When she became ill and was admitted to the hospital, her relatives took over the house and kicked him out. With no place else to go, he decided to find Buffy.
Connor found a job at a local museum where he became fascinated with eighteenth century art and architecture. With encouragement from Buffy and Dawn, he entered the local university where he majored in his new found fascination. One of his professors took an interest in him and encouraged him to continue his studies.
Ten years later Connor and Dawn were married with two children and he was well on his way to getting a doctorate degree. When she was officially retired by the Watchers Council, Buffy, Dawn and Connor returned to the US and for whatever reason, they decided to live in Sunnydale.
End Flashback
Part 2
Pulling herself away from the memories, it was not lost on her that it was the afternoon and Angel was standing in her front doorway in bright sunlight.
"What do you want, Angel?"
Taken aback by her attitude, he recovered quickly and replied, "I thought you might want to know that Faith is dead."
"I'm a slayer, Angel. I know exactly when Faith died and it was almost two years ago. When I felt her go, I told Giles and he called Wesley who verified that Faith had died."
"Oh, I-I should have remembered that you would feel her death. I didn't know until recently. I was away from LA at the time and Wesley didn't contact anyone."
"Wesley?"
"Oh, I'm sorry you didn't know. He was her watcher and they were married; they have a daughter. They wanted her to grow up with his family so they moved to England after she was born."
He hesitated; he really didn't want to leave. "What a beautiful baby; is it a boy?"
"Didn't the blue pajamas give you a hint?"
He smiled in spite of himself, remembering the many pairs of little blue pajamas that Connor had as a baby. After all this time it still hurt so much to remember the last time he saw his son. It was the day that Wesley rescued him from the watery prison that his son had trapped him in. He had ordered Connor out of his hotel. Connor had left and had never been seen again. He had no idea where his son was.
From the upstairs in the house they heard a voice yell, "Mom, where are Liam's clothes?"
"Oh, honey, I washed them. They're folded up in the laundry basket on top of the washer. I forgot to bring them upstairs."
Angel recognized the voice immediately. "Buffy, who is that?"
"That's the baby's father."
"He sounds so much like my son, Connor."
"He is Connor."
"WHAT?"
By that time Connor was coming down the stairs headed for the laundry room with a little boy, who appeared to be about three years old, following him. He did not notice Angel in the living room.
"Connor!" Angel called out, catching his attention. "You've been here all this time?"
"No. I've lived in LA, Rome and now Sunnydale."
"But why didn't you come back? Why didn't you let me know where you were?"
"You told me to get out of your hotel. You knew that I had no money, no friends, nothing. Where did you expect me to go? While you were in the ocean I heard Gunn and Fred debating whether or not they should contact the slayer in Sunnydale for help. That's how I knew where she was. Holtz had told me about the slayer and if I ever encountered one, I should help her if I could. That's what I decided to do.
"One night while everyone was out, I sneaked back into the hotel and took some of your money that I found over the summer. I lived off that until it ran out and then got some crappy job washing dishes. When I came to my senses, I couldn't find anyone from Angel Investigations and part of Sunnydale was gone. I found Buffy in Rome. She invited me to live with her and Dawn and the rest is history. I explained everything to her, who I was and how I came to be in Rome. She gave me her word when I asked her not to tell you or any of your friends where I was. When I was ready, I would tell you myself. Over the years she and Dawn have tried to get me to contact you. I have never been ready."
Angel sat down heavily on the sofa with his head bowed. He was almost in tears and his voice quivered when he spoke. "You have hated me for over ten years?"
"I don't hate you, not any more. You can thank Mom for that. I have what I was missing when I left your hotel - a family. I have my wife, Dawn, and two sons, I have a mother in Buffy, two grandfathers in Hank Summers and Giles, and Willow and Xander are my aunt and uncle. So you see, I found with Buffy what I didn't have in LA and I am very happy."
With sad eyes Angel turned to face the woman who had haunted his dreams for the last fifteen years. "What about you, Buffy? Are you happy?"
Without hesitating, she answered him truthfully. "I am as happy as I ever expect to be in this life."
"Have you never forgiven me?"
"I have nothing to forgive you for, Angel. My lip healed. It took a lot longer for the pain in my heart to go away, but thanks to Connor, Dawn and their kids, that eventually healed as well."
With her words he lost control; the tears came and he cried unashamedly. Buffy handed baby Liam to his father and went to sit next to Angel on the sofa. She put her arms around him. "If you don't stop, Liam will be crying right along with you."
Sure enough, as soon as the words were out of her mouth Liam started to whimper and before long, Angel knew just what kind of lungs his grandson had.
"Now you did it," Connor said somewhat teasingly as he walked over and passed the baby to Buffy. "Mom seems to be the only one who can get him to stop once he gets started."
In no time at all Liam was snuggled comfortably in Buffy's arms, happy as a little lamb.
"Why do you call Buffy 'mom'?
"I know that she is not my birth mother, but she is as close to me as I would ever expect a mother to be and I couldn't love her more if she was indeed my real mother."
Angel's heart almost leapt into his throat when he heard Connor's next words. "You may hold him if you want to."
"Thank you," and with trembling hands Angel turned to Buffy.
"Angel, why are you shaking? You need to calm down before I can trust you with Liam. What is the matter with you?"
Angel thought it would be best if he explained what had happened to him in the past fifteen years and why he was such a nervous wreck. Thus began a story of broken friendships, lost loved ones, years of constantly fighting for his life and finally, without warning being made human again with no idea how to cope in the human world.
With the exception of frequent whispers of shock and disbelief at what they were hearing, Angel's audience listened quietly, riveted, hanging on every word. Buffy openly wept while Connor's and Dawn's eyes were moist with unshed tears.
Angel told of everything that happened to him since he last saw Buffy...about Faith's turning herself over to the police and spending several years in prison, about the birth and kidnapping of his son and Wesley's related betrayal. He did not dwell on what happened with his son after he returned from Quor-Toth, but he did go into details about his reconciliation with Wesley, about his involvement with Wolfram and Hart and the deaths of Fred, Cordelia and Gunn. After he and Spike survived the battle behind the Hyperion Hotel, he was given another assignment by the Powers That Be...he had to continue the good fight; he had to travel the world killing off all of the demons that he encountered that posed a threat to mankind and when this was over, he would be rewarded...his humanity would be returned to him; he was going to be human one day.
"That happened almost a week ago. I contacted Wesley in England who told me that Faith had died and he had not heard from Connor, but he had learned from Giles that Buffy returned to the US after being released. That was why I came to Sunnydale.
"I'm tired, love," he told Buffy; "I am so very tired."
Buffy put her arms around Angel; she looked up at Connor who had tears in his eyes. "Rest, my love," she told Angel; "we will take care of you."
At that moment Buffy and Connor realized that what they had been missing all these years had just walked back into their lives and was now sitting in their living room.
At long last their family was complete.
The end.